No one brought up what just happened; Zoe was sitting there in silence, looking out of the window as the six of them were riding inside the carriage.
"I just hope Anne can stop this," Constance, who was outside driving, mumbled.
"She is the Queen, shouldn't the Chancellor obey her orders?" Aki questioned.
"That's the problem. She…only recently married King Louis…" Constance paused for a second as if processing what she just said. "Quite a lot of people, including the Chancellor, refuse to acknowledge her as their ruler since she is of Austrian descent. That's why the King should be the one in charge according to people, however… He is only 14, and emotionally speaking? Even younger."
"14!?" the kids gasped. Pure shock was painted on their faces. The King and Queen were barely older than them and they're married and rule over the entire country?
"So, theoretically if we'd stay here, I could get married in 2 years?" Zoe asked jokingly, her tone, however, remaining a bit grim, "I could also become a queen at 14."
"You'd have to marry royalty for that," Max pointed out to her, "you know that, right?"
"Might have…someone special in mind." Zoe blushed a little, tracing her eyes away.
"That's great, sweetie," Chusei told her, holding up the needle as a threat as light reflected from his glasses, "I'd love to meet them."
"Dad, please don't!"
"So, the King's really 14?" Rex wondered.
"Yes, and he's kind of a baby," Constance replied, "even for his age. That's why the Royal Mother, Queen Marie, is the one calling all the shots around here. The King's and Anne's words still have a greater weight than hers, but that means that the King would have to stand up to his mother and I don't think he's got the guts to do it."
"His mother or not, he's gotta build up the courage one day," Max said. Aki's eyes darted at him when she heard that. "I mean, he shouldn't be held back by her just because she's a parent when he can help others."
"I truly wish he matured into that realization," Constance stated, lost in her thoughts. It was when she heard a sudden noise that she snapped out.
With a quick glance at the side of the mountain next to the road, her eyes widened as rocks rolled down towards them. She gasped and yanked on the reins, stopping the horses as the rocks hit the road. The carriage shuddered due to that.
"Lady Constance, what happened?" Spike wondered.
"A rockslide," she replied, panting.
"It's no rockslide!" a boyish voice called out. Constance shot her head up to the side of the mountain with a worried expression. A young boy wearing an old hat, a torn tabard and a golden baldric was riding a donkey the carriage's way.
"D'Artagnan?" Constance stared at the orphans in shock. "What are you doing here?!"
"Besides trying to crush us all to smithereens," Max growled as he leaned out of the window.
"Sorry, Lady Constance, but I had to stop you somehow," d'Artagnan replied.
"And you couldn't have just yelled 'stop'?" Constance wondered, "d'Artagnan, I understand you want to help, but I told you to stay in Paris."
"A musketeer like myself can't just sit around and let Richelieu get away with what he and these strangers have done."
The brunette let out a sigh of defeat, knowing there was nothing that could change the boy's mind. She nodded while Max sat back down in the carriage, gritting his teeth.
—
A bright light lit up on board the Backland as Anmo teleported back. As soon as she arrived, Jonathan was already prepared with the weighted blanket. After getting tea from the android, she headed to the living room and sat down on the couch.
Well, that could have gone better. She wasn't expecting it to come back after 14 years. Everything was going so well and then…
The most important thing was that now she could relax and didn't have to worry about really anything.
At least that's what she thought. A loud bang was heard from the corridor. She put everything down and rushed over to the door, leaning out of the living room. In the huge corridor, she saw the Alpha Trio carrying a bunch of equipment Anmo didn't exactly know how to name, including one of those Scanners. Some metal boxes and cables were hanging from them, although a few of them were now laying all over the floor.
"At this rate, I don't think Dr. Z will need these," Zander spoke up, "they're already beaten up, I doubt dropping them is helping."
"No, they should be fine," Ed reassured him.
"Really?" Ursula side-eyed him. "Somehow I doubt that the wires are supposed to be visible."
"Well, as long as they work," Ed added with a shrug before picking up a few boxes stacked on one another. He was holding enough boxes to completely cover his line of sight. "We should hurry up, I don't wanna know what he can throw at us this time."
"Depends on what he has nearby," Zander responded as he started walking again, "my bets are on that lucky metal cup with whatever that liquid inside is."
"Anything but that…" Ursula groaned, tossing some cables over her shoulder and joining him.
Ed couldn't see that the two left, but he did hear their footsteps trail away and tried to quickly follow them. Not being able to see where he was going, he tripped himself. All his boxes would come tumbling down, however, someone caught them. He leaned to the side to see none other than Anmo holding them up.
"Need a hand?" The ginger gave him a soft smile.
"A-actually yes. Thank you!" Ed beamed back.
"Aren't you supposed to be on the surface with the kids?" Ursula wondered and Anmo's grip on the boxes tightened.
"Things…happened," Anmo responded and shook her head, "it doesn't matter." The Alpha Trio quickly exchanged curious looks, silently agreeing not to question her any further and to get back to their original task.
"Well, we gotta get going before the Doc gets grumpier than he already is," Zander brought up.
"Grumpier?" Ursula laughed as they headed to the Doctor's lab, "that's a good one. As if it could get any worse."
"I'm certain that if it could get worse, Cretacia would make sure he suffers the consequences," Anmo assured them, "and Zoe would as well."
"That sounds so weird," Ursula groaned, "she hated us at one point."
"Do you think that she does after what happened in Persia?" She glanced at the taller woman, caught off guard by her question. "You protected her down there and I'll be forever thankful for that. I suppose that my husband and Reese were right about you."
"Wow, your girlfriend talks about us." A wide teasing grin crossed Ursula's face as she nudged Zander's side with her elbow, making him all red.
"Sh-she's not my girlfriend!" he snapped at her, his hair standing up. Ursula's grin widened. "I mean, she can't be since we're not dating and of course, we won't if she doesn't want to. I would never force in any way and I respect-"
"Alright, alright, we get it, Don Juan," Ursula interrupted him, waving her hand dismissively.
"Do you even know what that means?"
"I haven't got a clue," she admitted.
Anmo just smiled at their bickering, reminding her of her daughters.
—
Back at the surface, the carriage was barely halfway to the château, riding through a forest. D'Artagnan and his donkey were slowly following behind, causing the carriage to take even longer.
"At the rate we're going, we'll never get to the château by noon," Constance mumbled to herself. She glanced inside the carriage. "Hang on, everyone, we have to go faster! Hyah!"
Max looked out of the window as the carriage sped up.
"We'd probably be there by now if someone didn't block our route with a rockslide." He glared at d'Artagnan.
"Well, if someone else hadn't come along, we'd still have an orphanage!" the black-haired boy snapped at him, riding his donkey closer to the window.
"The Raja would break it down regardless. Max was just trying to help," Rex reminded him.
"His help destroyed our home!" d'Artagnan yelled at him as he got in front of the carriage, ignoring what the blond just said.
"Oh, yeah?" Max snarled, leaning out more, but when he did, lost his balance and nearly fell out of the window. The only thing keeping him from falling out was Spike grabbing his jacket and pulling him back inside.
"Try not to provoke him," Spike told him.
"I didn't provoke him!" the boy objected and shut up as soon as he spotted his mother's disappointed expression. He did…didn't he?
"Max, if you don't want him to bring up your mistake, don't bring up his," she advised him. He quickly traced his glance away from her and out the window. "No need to start pointless fights." She was right… But that kid was just being a thorn in the side regardless.
While in the front of the expedition, d'Artagnan glanced back at Constance who seemed to be zoned out–her eyes staring forward without paying attention to her surroundings, her lips formed into a frown. He clenched his fists, hating to see her like that. It was all the strangers' fault. It was all Richelieu's fault!
He sped up, heading towards the château.
—
After helping the Alpha Trio, Anmo looked around the ship, entering the engine room. Honestly, after being kidnapped by aliens, the huge spinning pillar in the room didn't even surprise her. She walked further into the room and as she did, something dropped from the ceiling right in her face. She jumped back with a loud yelp.
Her heart rate sky-rocketed and her hand grabbed onto her shirt near her chest as she panted. She stared forward at a blond hanging upside down from a rope attached to a gear he was wearing.
"Cretacia…" the ginger let out, "I recently had a few panic attacks, I don't need a heart attack too…"
"Sorry," Cretacia quickly said before he pressed a button on the gear, releasing himself to the ground with a flip. He landed beside Anmo with a huge grin. "So, you like the outfit?" he wondered, Anmo nodded in response, "it suits you."
Before he could continue, a hologram popped up in the room, showing a call between the ship and the D-Team.
"Alright, we should be in contact with everyone on the ship," Jonathan said.
"Good," Max responded, "listen, guys, we're gonna need someone to head to Duke Dumas' château. We're on our way there to get the Blue Eye of Gaia, but I doubt we can make it there before those French bad guys."
"And you're absolutely certain that the Cosmos Stone is at this château?" the android asked him.
"Not really," Rex admitted, "but from what we know it was built during the Old Regime just like the orphanage and we saw Gavro and Richelieu's men heading there."
"We've gotta make sure that somebody stops them if we can't," Max added, "we can't exactly leave Constance behind, so…"
"We're on our way," Ursula announced, surprising the boys, "we need a little break from the Doc."
"Alright, thank you." Max smiled and was about to end the call when Zoe pushed him out of the way to speak.
"Before we go. Mom!" Anmo quickly glanced at the hologram, seeing the sad smile of her daughter. "How are you?"
"Better." She smiled back. "No need to worry. Have you figured out anything else about the Stone?" Zoe shook her head in response.
"We're not even sure if it really is a Cosmos Stone," the pink-haired girl admitted, "who knows, maybe you were right about Le coeur vert d'Alcippe." Anmo frowned at that. "And we're chasing after the wrong gem."
"As I said, Le coeur vert d'Alcippe is just a myth," Anmo reminded her.
"Rex, Max and I basically created the base for the Journey To The West story when with traveled with Genzo Sanzo Hoshi; that myth can easily be similar to that."
"We'll look up this Le coeur vert d'Alcippe and head after it if we can," Cretacia suggested, "you go after that Blue Eye, even though it really shouldn't be blue."
"Okay." Zoe nodded. "Mom-" She cut herself off when her father placed his hand on her shoulder. A soft smile returned to her face. "Take care."
"You too." The hologram then disappeared and Anmo turned her attention back to Cretacia. "I wanted to ask you a favor." The blond raised his eyebrows in surprise.
—
As the D-Team was on the surface traveling, they were nearing the château. As soon as he spotted it, d'Artagnan sped up. Constance tried to catch up which caused the carriage ride to be much more ragged than before; one side of the carriage being particularly bumpy. Aki noticed and leaned out of the window, she saw one of the wheels getting loose.
"Lady Constance, d'Artagnan, we ought to stop!" she called out to them.
"We can't stop now!" d'Artagnan shouted at her before Constance could even respond.
"One of the wheels is-" Aki was cut off by a sudden jerk of the carriage as the wheel broke off. Everyone inside screamed while that side of the carriage dragged over the ground.
As soon as Constance felt that, she stopped the carriage and rushed to check on everyone inside.
"Are you okay?"
"Been better, but yeah," Spike replied, "what even happened?"
"We lost a wheel," Aki explained, "I think it's still intact."
They all exited the carriage and got to work. The parents and Constance lifted the carriage while the D-Team got the wheel and hammered it back in its place. The whole time d'Artagnan was just watching as they fixed the wheel.
"What are you doing?!" the black-haired boy snapped at them as he hopped off his donkey, "how did this happen?!"
"It happened because you didn't stop when you were told to," Aki replied, her voice much more strict than usual, but quickly shifted back to be softer, "I tried telling you."
"You should have said something sooner!" he yelled, "instead of sitting around being useless!"
"Alright, that's it!" Max shouted and jumped at the boy, knocking him to the ground.
"Stay out of this! It's none of your business!" d'Artagnan snapped at him.
"Oh, it is! You can say whatever you want about me, but keep my mom out of your mouth!" Max held him by the collar by the tabard, grounding him into the dirt.
"Who do you think you are? Get off of me!" D'Artagnan punched Max in the face.
"Sure, just as soon as you start listening to people who want to help you!" Max spat before being pulled away by Spike.
"We're not through!" d'Artagnan shouted as he got up and charged at the brunet. He was stopped by Constance who tried her best to hold him back.
"Knock it off!"
"We don't have time for this!" Rex and Zoe snapped at him.
Max didn't struggle against his father's grip; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, listening to d'Artagnan's screams.
"Learn what teamwork is," he said calmly, "I doubt this is how a musketeer should act."
"You know nothing!" d'Artagnan yelled at him.
"D'Artagnan, he's right," Constance told him, still holding him.
"Fine! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" Just that was enough; Constance let go of the boy, glaring at him. The black-haired boy charged at Max who stepped aside, letting d'Artagnan fall to the ground.
"We don't have time," Max said and headed back into the carriage, soon followed by the others.
"Where are you going, coward?!" d'Artagnan yelled as he got up only to see the carriage leaving without him, "come back!" He huffed a few times before grabbing his hat and throwing it to the ground. He then did the same with the tabard and baldric and fell to his knees.
—
As they proceeded their journey to the château, Chusei examined Max's bruises while Max pulled a water bottle out of his fanny pack and poured a bit of water onto a handkerchief.
"It's nothing serious," Chusei reassured, "it'll leave a small bruise."
"Yeah, it's nothing," Max said before placing the handkerchief on his damaged cheek, "I got worse; Foolscap kicked me in the face once." He grinned but quickly stopped when he noticed his mom's expression. "Sorry… I guess I got a little carried away with d'Artagnan back there. I'll try to stay a little more positive and balanced next time," he chuckled softly.
Rex and Zoe glanced at him in a bit of shock. He still remembered… Zoe smiled at that while Rex just looked out the window.
"The Stones are more important than some dumb arguments," Max continued. Rex quietly pulled onto his sleeves, eyes still focused on the outside. "I was an idiot to provoke him like that."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it," Zoe told him, "we all slip up. I was a bit of a hypocrite back in Persia too and to be fair, d'Artagnan did deserve it."
"Deserved it or not, I feel bad for leaving him back there," Constance spoke up.
"We can go back for him," Spike suggested.
"No," was a firm reply as the teen's hands trembled, "finding Anne… Finding that gem is way more important right now. And I know…I know d'Artagnan can take care of himself. He's wanted to be a musketeer for years."
"Why does he even wanna become one?" Max wondered.
"A few years ago, he encountered three of the best musketeers France has ever known; their names were Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The three of them saved d'Artagnan from some man with a scar and his female companion. He adored them and followed them everywhere he could. The three grew attached to him as well and promised that once they wouldn't be busy with their musketeer work they'd even take him in. Although one day, they headed out on a mission and never returned."
Hearing the story, the carriage fell into silence, letting it all sink in.
—
As they promised, the Alpha Trio found their way to the surface and to the château. There were no guards, how strange… They walked right into the château court with no issues, that was until they spotted a certain strawberry man flying above them. Unfortunately for them, he noticed them and wasted no idea with summoning his Anchiceratops. The Alpha Trio's response was calling out Spiny.
The Spinosaurus swiped his tail at the Anchiceratops, but it jumped over it and rammed into Spiny. It pushed him over the ground, slamming him into the château. The Anchi hurled itself at him only for Spiny to kick it away. With a flip, it landed and headbutted Spiny a few times.
"Give it all you got, Spiny! Take it to that dino!" the Alpha Trio cheered.
It was not long after that the D-Team arrived.
"Spiny?" Zoe exclaimed as they ran over to the gate, "so, then the old lady's made it here!" The answer was literally shoved right in her face as Ursula rushed over to her.
"Take that back!" the woman yelled at her, "I am a young woman, you hear me?! I thought we were done with this already!"
"Sorry, old habit," Zoe let out, holding her hands up defensively. They both then turned their attention back to the battle as Spiny was thrown at one of the château buildings–the collection room, smashing a hole into it.
Unbeknownst to them, Richelieu, who arrived way before anyone else, saw this and headed to the collection room, thinking the Blue Eye of Gaia could be hidden there.
The Anchiceratops charged at Spiny, only for him to dodge to the side. It rammed into the château instead, breaking it down even more. Spiny then stomped on the dino.
"At this rate, the château is going to collapse soon," Chusei said.
"No," Max let out, curling his hand into a fist, "I'm not gonna let that happen. Not again! Chomp! Let's put a stop to this demolition!" He summoned Chomp in his full size and the Triceratops threw the Anchi away from Spiny.
"I'll make you sorry for that!" Gavro grunted at that, holding up a different card, "we'll see if this new armor is really all it's cracked up to be. Gigasaurus!" He placed the card to his summoner, calling out a white theropod already equipped with armor with several huge spikes.
"A Tyrannosaurus?" Rex wondered.
"Did…Did he just call it 'Gigasaurus'?!" Spike burst, "there is no such thing as Gigasaurus! Get your facts straight!"
"There, there, dear, it's okay," Aki mumbled, patting his back assuringly.
"I think you're missing the more important part," Zander pointed out, "what's with that armor?"
"Oh, and you ain't seen the best of it," Gavro said with a wide grin, "check out Spectral Lancer!" The summoner on his chest began the glow and the pink spikes on Gigas' back were covered in white crystals and grew larger. With a louder roar from the dino, the crystals became smooth, forming four big skeleton-like fingers.
He charged at Spiny and picked him up with the lancers and pinned him against a wall. Spiny collapsed to the ground and returned into a card as soon as Gigas let go of him.
"Well, that was quick," Ed commented.
"Fine then," Ursula started, reaching for the other Alpha Scanner, "if it's a Tyrannosaurus, we'll fight with a Tyrannosaurus." Her body froze when she couldn't find the Scanner, however.
"Great idea," Zander agreed, "except that Terry was left on the ship."
"What?!"
"Because of the Red Cosmos Stone, remember?" That one sentence made Ursula's face cringe in anger as she grabbed her hair.
"Can that old geezer not screw us over for one mission?!" she groaned.
"Don't worry, we'll take care of it now," Zoe spoke up and then glanced at Rex, "together." With a bit of hesitation, Rex nodded and the two of them summoned their dinosaurs into battle.
Seeing this, Gavro equipped his Anchiceratops with Spectral Armor. The D-Team soon followed with their Dinotector.
Paris was the first one to approach Gigas, but he quickly slapped her away with his tail. Ace rammed into the Tyrannosaurus at full speed, knocking him over. Once the large theropod was on the ground, Ace bit down on his throat as much as he could.
The Anchiceratops charged forward to get rid of Ace, however, before it got close enough, Chomp jumped at it from the side and threw it with his horns. As the smaller ceratopsian tried to get up Paris knocked it back down and stomped it into the ground.
As the battle was going on and everyone was distracted, Richelieu ran into the collection room to look for the Blue Eye of Gaia. Unfortunately for him, the adults noticed.
"Richelieu's here," Aki pointed out.
"Then what do you say we go stop that son of a gun?" Chusei suggested, holding his needle. Spike nodded as the three of them headed to the collection room.
"Max! We'll take care of Richelieu, you deal with Gavro and that not Gigasaurus!"
"Are you seriously still salty about that name?" Max asked him before noticing Gigas charging at Chomp.
"Maybe we should bring out Tank," Ed suggested.
"Let's save as a backup for later," Ursula told him, "and look for the Cosmos Stone instead." The two men nodded and the trio headed away.
Meanwhile, Richelieu was already in the collection room, looking through the rubble until he spotted what seemed like a teal-colored crystal ball.
"There you are, my little gem," he chuckled as he stepped closer, reaching his hand out to it. But before he could touch it, a pink rope wrapped around his wrist, stopping him.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" At that question, he shot his head to the huge hole in the wall, seeing the three parents. This allowed them to see scars on the left side of his face.
"Who do you think you are?" he asked and was met with a grin crossing Spike's face.
"I'm Dr. Spike Taylor of the D-Lab. A famous paleontologist and the father slash surrogate father of the D-Team!" the buff man responded, holding his whip tightly. Aki and Chusei both glanced at each other in confusion, although Chusei then joined in.
"My name is Dr. Chusei Drake, I'm a veterinarian and I was a double of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa."
Aki was just staring at the two, not sure what to think and so was Richelieu.
"I don't have time for fools like you," Richelieu groaned and pulled out his sword. He was about to cut the whip that was restraining him. Spike quickly retracted the whip to prevent it from being damaged. Shocked by this at first, Richelieu shot a cocky smirk at the trio.
His attitude didn't last however. Chusei charged at him with his needle. Richelieu blocked the attack with his sword and backed away from the Stone. That was when Chusei had his first proper look at it himself and…that wasn't the Cosmos Stone!
He remembered what Cretacia said about the specific glow and the universe itself, which he later confirmed.
His eyes were focused on this fake, reconsidering if they should keep fighting or not, but Richelieu took advantage of that. He was about to strike when somebody got in the way and stopped the sword.
Spike or Aki wasn't fast enough to do anything, but someone else was. A simple stick blocked the thin sword.
D'Artagnan…
"Don't you know that attacking somebody when their back is turned is dishonest?" the boy asked. Richelieu's glare hardened as he gritted his teeth. "Stay away from them, Richelieu."
"What? Do you want to fight me by yourself, pipsqueak?" Richelieu mocked him.
"No, I'm not alone," d'Artagnan replied and glanced at Aki, "I have people that want to help me. All for one."
"Oh, how sweet." Richelieu's face cringed in disgust as he raised his sword, only for his arm to be stopped by Spike's whip wrapping around it once again.
"And one for all," the brunet added.
Watching from afar, Max smiled at the scene in the collection room before turning his attention back to the battle. The Anchiceratops finally managed to knock Paris over and get up. Chomp rushed over to help her, but Gigas rammed into him and tossed him to the side.
"Let's end this," Rex exclaimed, turning to both of his friends, "together."
"Right!" Max and Zoe nodded.
The first one to swipe their card was Rex, activating Sonic Blast. Ace's jaws filled with a bright blue orb of wind that he shot as a tornado at Gigas, lifting him in the air.
Then was Zoe's opportunity to use Green Impulse. Eight Tupuxuaras circled around the Tyrannosaurus and struck at the same time, leaving him to collapse to the ground.
The last card activated was Max's Thunder Driver. Chomp tossed the Anchiceratops in the air and once charged with electricity, he jumped in the air, rotating as he came down on the enemy, drilling into it with his horns and lightning until they hit the ground. All that was enough for the Anchi's armor to shatter and for it to return into its card.
"Well, that's one down!" Max chuckled, reaching his fist to his friends with a huge grin on his face.
"Great job, Max," Zoe said as she fist-dumped him. She kept her hand in place, waiting for Rex. The blond hesitated at first but eventually joined as well.
"But we haven't won just yet," he pointed out.
Gigas got himself up, still eager to fight.
"Yeah, that Gigas sure is tough," Max said, "how is he even still standing?"
Back in the collection room, Richelieu was fighting off the parents and d'Artagnan while the Alpha Trio watched.
"What do we do?" Zander wondered.
"I don't know," Ed admitted, "do we help them?"
"Well, grabbing the Cosmos Stone will help," Ursula brought up, "so…" She shrugged and the other two nodded as they all snuck along the wall.
Richelieu's sword was about to come down at the boy, but in that moment, Aki grabbed a destroyed painting and used it to block the hit. The blade was inches away from her face, stopped by the frame.
"I will not be defeated by a bunch of strangers and an orphan!" Richelieu yelled.
That one word… It was that one word that made the entire Alpha Trio stop dead in their tracks and turn their attention to the fight.
"Did he just call that kid…" Ursula started.
"...an orphan?" all three of them finished.
"I've had enough of these games," Richelieu said as he let go of his sword and pulled out a gun. The parents and d'Artagnan all froze in place, knowing this isn't something they can fight. "And now I bid you adieu." That ugly grin once again formed under his mustache, but before he could do anything.
Bonk!
A vase hit the back of his head, sending him falling to the floor.
"Not before I bid you good night!" snapped Ursula, who had the vase in her hands. With one glance at the parents, she felt sweat forming on her forehead. "Um… That's what I planned the whole time. Now where's the Stone?" She quickly looked around the room.
"That isn't a Cosmos Stone," Chusei pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Aki wondered.
"It doesn't look like one. I couldn't really tell you during the fight because of Richelieu."
"Wait, you're right," Zander confirmed when he took a closer look at the crystal ball, "it does look different."
"The Blue Eye of Gaia…" groaned Richelieu as he grabbed the ball and got up, "is mine!"
"Oh, no, he got it. Whatever are we going to do?" Ursula said with the most monotone voice possible. The other adults tried to hold back their laughter, Ed and Aki failing miserably. Richelieu could only glare at them in confusion.
"Richelieu, what is the meaning of this?" Duke Dumas questioned when Constance led him, the Queen, and the King to the collection room.
"So, you found what we're looking for?" Gavro asked as he arrived.
"What are you, blind?" the black-haired man snapped at the alien, "the gem is sitting right here in my palm."
"That ain't the Cosmos Stone," Gavro replied.
"What?"
"A real Cosmos Stone's too powerful to simply be held by a Kai or a human for that matter," the pirate continued, "everyone knows that."
"So, this isn't the Blue Eye of Gaia?" Richelieu glanced down at the orb.
"Told you," Chusei mumbled and shrugged, eyeing the other parents.
"I've been telling you that from the very beginning, Richelieu," Dumas told the Chancellor, "it's an old family treasure. No Eye of Gaia is here."
"You humans sure have a way of messing things up!" Gavro complained as he headed away, "I'm outta here!"
Outside, Gigas charged right at all three D-Team dinosaurs.
"Brace yourself, Chomp!" Max called out. The Tyrannosaurus was getting closer and closer, his jaws inches away from the Triceratops when…he suddenly vanished. His whole body transformed into a purple beam and then a card in Gavro's hand.
"What a waste of time," the pirate groaned, "see ya."
"He's just leaving?" Zoe wondered as they watched the man fly away.
Once Gavro was no longer visible in the distance, Richelieu scoffed, glaring at the crystal ball in his hand once more. He tightened his grip but then threw the ball.
"It's just a worthless piece of junk!"
"No!" cried Dumas.
"I got it!" Spike called out, swiping his whip. It wrapped around the crystal ball and he yoinked it to himself. The whip let go and the fake Cosmos Stone landed in Aki's hands. "You got it!" he said with a thumbs-up.
"Oh, thank you," the Duke said as he rushed over to them while Richelieu quickly left. Aki handed the crystal ball to Dumas with an apologetic smile.
—
Later, Duke Dumas invited everyone into the château where everyone explained what Richelieu's plan was and what he's done back in Paris. The King didn't exactly react, but the Queen was concerned, to say the least.
"I can't believe the Royal Mother is conspiring against us and trying to extend her rule to all of Europe and using Richelieu as muscle to make it all so. We must stop him," Anne said.
"We will stop him," Constance added, smiling at the blonde.
"If it really is that powerful, it's gotta be a Cosmos Stone," Rex figured.
"Yeah," Max let out while his attention was solely on d'Artagnan who was strangely quiet the whole time. The brunet took a deep breath and walked over to the boy. "Hey… About what happened before…"
"I'm sorry," the black-haired boy spoke up, "I was a jerk and that is not how a musketeer should act. I'm not worthy to call myself that."
"Not worthy?" Dumas wondered as he walked up to him, "they surely thought otherwise." The boys looked up at him, not sure who he was referring to. "Athos." Dumas straightened d'Artagnan's old hat. "Porthos." He tugged on the golden baldric. "Aramis." And he finally touched the torn tabard. "They wouldn't give these to someone who isn't worth it."
"I guess they were wrong. I'm not fit to be a musketeer, but…" D'Artagnan looked at the time travelers. "These guys are." They all smiled at that.
"Speaking of them, you mentioned looking for a powerful gem," Dumas said, turning to the strangers, "a few years ago, Athos, Porthos and Aramis headed off to Vassasi Castle, looking for a gem called-"
"Le coeur vert d'Alcippe," the D-Team and the parents exclaimed, but only Chusei pronounced it correctly. Dumas nodded to confirm.
"Vassasi Castle was also built during the Old Regime, just like the château and the orphanage," Constance brought up, "it's the only building left."
"That must mean that the two gems really are one and the same," Zoe realized.
"Then what are we waiting for?" d'Artagnan asked, "let's stop Richelieu!"
"Right!" the D-Team exclaimed together.
"And not just him," Anne mentioned.
"In that case, I have something for you to thank you for protecting my crystal orb," Dumas said.
—
"Oh, yeah! I am looking good!" Max chuckled, looking down at his new blue tabard he and the other got once they were all outside.
"I've never held a real-life sword before!" Zoe exclaimed, pulling a sword out of her scabbard.
"Same here!" Spike held up his sword and crossed it with Zoe's. "It's so cool! And the hats too." He grabbed the dark red hat, tears filling his eyes. "So beautiful." Aki smiled at that.
"I don't think giving us swords was a good idea," Rex commented.
"You might have a point," Aki agreed, "we don't really deserve them; I still feel bad about destroying that painting."
"You know, this isn't half bad," Chusei said as he looked at his reflection in a window.
The Alpha Trio was seemingly happy with their outfits too.
"Now, you ready?" d'Artagnan asked the D-Team, holding up his stick. Unlike the rest of them, he did not accept a new outfit or a weapon. The three held up their swords, crossing with d'Artagnan's stick.
"All for one and one for all!" they all said as one, however, once they did, a wall near them started to crack. As soon as they noticed, d'Artagnan, Rex and Zoe ran away, but there was one person who didn't recognize that sound until it was too late.
Max stayed in one place, wondering if he's said something wrong when the wall came down on him, creating a big cloud of dust.
—
And that's chapter 5!
I took the other three musketeers out of the story as there were already enough characters and they kinda don't do anything. So, I changed their roles a bit and that's why I changed the name of the chapter too.
D'Artagnan very much deserved a lesson, but I decided to also include Max actually learning from both China and Persia and I think that's just more powerful than beating the kid up. I just like the idea of Sanzo's whole thing having an effect on the kids, at least as much as it could. They can't exactly apply the "no fighting" to the SSP, but they can with other people.
I don't really have much more to say about this chapter, maybe just that the favor Anmo asked Cretacia isn't that big, but it is important to Anmo's character.
Also, a quick reminder that in this story Cretacia is genderfluid and at the moment identifies as a man.
So, I hope you liked this chapter.